Steam-engine.



APPLICATION FILED APR, 11, 1902.

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Zv'venE.0a/1 6S er gm PATENTBD APR. 5, 1904.

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No. 756,657. PATENTED APR. 5

F. LANE & 0. E. OAKES.

STEAM ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 11, 1902.

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N0 MODEL.

u w m W m W M 5 m Wkrmh Mm- WZY F2 0 B Wu No. 756,657. PATENTED APR, 5, 1904.

1:". LANE & O, E. OAKES. STEAM ENGINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 11, 1902. N0 MODEL.

3 8HEETQ-SHEET 3.

E A TTOR/VEYS UNITED STATES Patented April 5, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE. j

FRANK LANE, or OARTHAGE, AND OLIVER E. OAKES, OF JOPLIN,

. MISSOURI.

STEAM-ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 756,657, dated April 5,1904.

Application filed April 11, 1902.

To all iuhom'it may concern: j v

Be i known that we, FRANK LANE, of Carthage, and OLIVER E. OAKES, of Joplin, in

the county of Jasper and State of Missouri, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Steam-Engines,- of which the following is a specification. 1

The object of our invention is to provide a steam-engine which shall occupy the least possible space, shall be free from danger of boiler explosions, which shall use. steam at very high temperature and pressure with least possible loss by condensation and radiation, and which shall give the greatest amount of power for the,fuel consumed and which shall also in-. volve only a small current expense for running the same. a

To these ends our invention consists of an engine 61'' that principle of action-known as L a flashers. or steam-engines wh1ch have no boiler proper and carry no permanent body of steam, but inject upon heated surfaces small quantities of water at each movement.

of the piston, which limited quantity of water is instantly expanded or flashed into steam to give a single impulse to the piston and which injections of water and steam impulses are repeated at every movement of the piston. We

have invented a new and useful engine of this type, which we will now proceed to describe with reference to'the drawings, in which- Figure l is a side elevation of the entire engine. Fig. 2 is a side elevation looking at right angles to the view. shown in Fig. 1 and with one-half ofthe engine shown in section, and Figs. 3, 4, and 5 are enlarged details.

In the drawings, A represents the cylinder of the engine, which is arranged vertically and is open at the top. At its bottom it is supported upon a base B, which is of. circular form and has short upwardly-extending legs (t supporting a circular ring (an the top, between which and the bottom of the cylinder a stout plate a, of copper, is secured by bolts afi'as seen in Fi 1, This plate a closes the bottom of the steam-cylinder, and between this plate a and the bottom of the base. B

there is formed an open space or retort-chamr ber forburners or heating-jets offlame, by.

as the spray of water injected upon it is flashed into steam. The internal bore of the cylinder A is somewhat smaller at its lowerend than it is at the upper end, and within said cylinder is fitted to slide vertically a cupture. The plate a we term a flash-plate, V

shaped piston R, which has at its upper edge an outturned lipv fitting the larger upper diameter of the cylinder. A rocking bearing 6 of this piston is connected by a piston-rod 6 with the crank F of the main shaft F F which latter is journaled in boxes 6 e in the tops of standards E E, mounted uponthe opposite sides of the top of the cylinder, and is provided at its opposite ends with bandwheel G and balance-wheel G. v

On one side at its lower edge, the cylinder A has a projecting tablesurface A, resting upon the base B, and on this tableis erected a single-acting pump (3, which consists of a short cylinder, bolted to" the top of the table A and made to cover two channel-ways 0 a.

One of these channels, 0', takes water from any source of supply, and o communicates with a passage-way 0 which isformed in the ring a and opens through a check-valve 0 into the interior, space of the cylinder A above the copper plate a. Fig. 3 is a detail view in section of this check-valve in the cylinder of the engine. A is the wall of the-cylinder. A is a plug screwed in the part A, which plug is to be removed to examine or repair valveframe a? or valve 0. The valve-frame c is screwed in the plate a and consists of a regulation seat with an arm extending over the valve and acting as a guide for the stem and spring a. When the plunger .0 of the pump C rises, it draws in water through the passage way 0, and when said plunger descends it forces a definite and regulatable amount of-water out through the passage-ways a p and valve c onto the top of the highly-heated plate (2 where it becomes instantly converted into steam and whose pressure being exerted on the piston Rlifts the same. The.waterpiston c of the pump is lifted by theac'tion of an eccentric K on the main shaft F above, but has a quick and variable descent, accord formed on or attached to 'the side ofthe cylinder. By sliding the piece 03 up or down on the track Z the fuppersurface of the slide 03 is made to arrest the fall of the stop-piece d sooner or later in its descent. For lifting the pump-piston (see Figs. 1, 4, and 5) the eccentric 5 K has a rodd, that is jointed to a slide d", carrying a pivoted grab-hook (i which acts upon a lug d, attached'to the piston-rod c and'after lifting it a sufficient distance releases it and allows it to rapidly fall in response to the spring .9 or a dash-pot. The slide d has a dovetail rib d, that slides in a'corresponding groove 0? in a block M, attached to the cylinder. 1 The piston-rod 0 is guided at its upper end by a dovetail slide a, working in a groove 5 in the block 'The grab-hook oZ is thrown under the lug d by the spring 03 and after lifting the piston-rod by said lug the grabhook is thrownoff the said lug by a legal of the grab-hook, which comesin contact with a leg cl being made rigid with the grab-hook,

so that the action of cam (Z onthe rigid leg d is transmitted to the grab-hook to dislodge it from the leg. The grab-hook is of sufficient length to allow a full stroke of the eccentric to be made and to allow the pump-rod to be stopped at any point of its upstroke by the camol in regulating the amount of :water to be admitted to the cylinder, for which purjustable in any suitable manner.

On the opposite sid'eof the cylinder from the pump there is formed an exhaust-chamber A for the steam. This communicates with 45. the interior of the cylinder near its bottom andhas a discharge-pipe A leading to the outer air. Ina'circular seat within this chamber A? there is arranged a rocking valve A which at one endhas a crank-arm efi connect- 5 0 ed by a'rod 0 with a horizontal bar a which in turn is fulcrumed near its middle to a sup-' port a from the cylinder and is at its other end connected to,- the eccentric-rod 0 which is worked by the eccentric K on the mainshaft. The rod 6' has at top and bottom ball-joints for connecting with lever e and valve-arm 0*. The rotary valve A has an opening in its side extending a little more than a semidiameter, and through it the steam escapes from the lower portion of the cylinder to the disch argpipe A". This discharge of steam takes place immediately after the piston has reached the highest portion of its stroke, and the discharge-valve remains open during the greater part of the descent of the, piston. At other stationary cam (Z on the block M, the said pose the cam d may be made vertically ad times or during the expansion of the waterinto steam and the rise of the piston'the solid part of the rocking valve is turned bythe action of the eccentric so as to cut ofl the discharge of steam. i

For regulating the position of slide'd and consequently the strokeof the pump and quantity of water injected at each stroke, this may be done by hand or in any other way as, for instance, by any automatic speedgovernor which we contemplate applying to our engine.

The object in using a copper plate a at the bottom of the engine to receive the spray of water is to prevent oxidation of the metal, and for this purpose various alloys or nonoxidizing metals may be used.

At the bottom of the cylinder it will be perceived that the steam-space is widened out ad-. jacentto the flash-plate a beyond the diameter, of the piston. Into this widened out 5 space the iyvater is injected and spread over the plate in a spray, and from this space also the steam is gathered for the discharge.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new,and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

1. 'A' flasher-engine having a water-injec- -tion pump, means for positively withdrawing the plungerof the pump, means for disconnecting the said plunger, and resilient means for quickly advancing the \plunger of the pump to injectthe water substantially as de-' scribed 2. A flasher-engine having a vertical cylinder, a plunger working therein and a flashplate at the bottom said cylinder being en larged laterally at its lower end adjacent to the flash-plate to a greater diameter than the plunger, and having 'its waterand steam" valves opening into said enlargement sub- 95 stantially as and for. the purpose described.

3. In a steam-engine of the kind described the combination with'the cylinder, its piston, and a highly-heated flash-surface; of a waterinjection pump, a spring orits described equivalent for'forclng downits plunger, and an eccentric on the mam shaft with means for lifting the pump plunger and releasing it with a quick dropsubs'tantially as and for the purpose described; v II 5 4. In a s'team engine of the kind described,

the combination with the cylinder, its piston, anda highly-heated flash-surface; of a water-- injection pump, a spring or its described.

equivalent for. forcing down itsplunger, am :eceentric on the mam shaft with means fOIcx lifting the pump-plunger and releasing it with a quick drop, and an adjustable stop for limiting the throw of said pump-plunger and consequently the amount of water injected sub- 5 stantially as described.

5. Ina steam-engine of the kind described,

the combination of the cylinder A having table extension A with passage-ways dc, the

pump mounted above the same, and the base 3 having ring a with passage-way 0 the flashplate interposed between the said ring and cylinder, and the valve' a substantially as and for the purpose described;

6. In a steam-engine of the kind described, the cylinder having a discharge-chamber A formed at its lower end and communicating wlth. the 1nteri0r, the rocking valve A ar.

ranged in the same and having crank 0 an ee- IO centric 0n the main shaft, a horizontal lever 0,

connecting the other end of the lever to the eccentric.

FRANK LANE. v OLIVER E. CAKES. Witnesses:

JOSEPH E. COBB, W. N. LA RUE. 

